Military says it is prepared for all scenarios including ‘resumption of hostilities’.
Israel has launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for the second time since the ceasefire ended last month's 11-day war.
The strikes at the end of Thursday came after activists gathered by Gaza military commanders Hamas unveiled burning balloons in Israel for a third working day. Basic balloons are intended to ignite fires on farms and in the surrounding forest in Gaza.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in strikes, which were heard in Gaza City. Israelis again attacked planes early Wednesday morning, targeting so-called Hamas bases, without killing or injuring anyone.(ads2)
The military said air planes had hit Hamas with "military combinations and rocket launchers" late Thursday in response to balloons. It said that its troops were preparing for “various events, including the resumption of hostilities.”
The sound of rockets exploded in Israeli communities near Gaza shortly after the plane crash. The military later claimed to have created "incoming fire, not rockets".
Security camera footage obtained by the Associated Press showed what appeared to be a heavy fire shooting in the air from Gaza, possibly the efforts of Palestinian soldiers to shoot down planes. Some drawings depicting projectiles being fired from Gaza, but it was not clear what type it was anywhere.
Tensions remain high since the end of the war, which ended the conflict on May 21, as Egyptian mediators met with Israeli and Hamas officials to try to block the unrest.
The fighting killed 260 Palestinians, including civilians, according to Gaza authorities. In Israel, 13 people, including a soldier, were killed by rockets fired at Gaza, police and soldiers said.(ads1)
The airstrike this week in Gaza was the first time under a new Israeli government led by Naphtali Bennett, whose coalition split on Sunday fired the long-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli police used stun bombs and a water cannon to spray skunk water to disperse Palestinian protesters in Damascus Gate east of Jerusalem, a protest center with military forces in preparation for the Gaza war.
After the crowds dispersed, Palestinians were seen throwing stones and water bottles at the ultra-Orthodox Jews marching through the area.
Calls were circulating that protesters gathered in Damascus to respond to a rally held there by Jewish ultranationalists on Tuesday when scores of Israelis chanted "Death to Arabs". Police forcibly removed the square and providing the safety of that rali, a portion of Israeli's victory in the east of Jerusalem.
In another incident, a Palestinian girl died on Thursday after being shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank during a protest against a residence, the fourth overseer to be killed since the army was formed last month.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that a soldier stationed near a wildcat camp in the West Bank had seen a group of Palestinians approaching, and another "threw a suspicious object, which exploded next to the soldier." The army said the soldier fired into the air, then fired at a Palestinian who was throwing an object.
The Palestinian health department said on Thursday that Ahmad Shamsa, 15, had died of a gunshot wound the day before.
Residents established the area, which they called Eviatar, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus last month and say it is now home to many families. Palestinians say it was built in an independent country and feared that it would grow and merge with other large areas nearby.
Posts
